Improvement in gun-carriages



RA-TENT Orme-E.

JOHN na1cssoN,oF New YORK, N. Y.

' (IMPROVEMENT im 'GUN-cARiAoEs.

Speoilication Vforminzfpart of Letters Patent No. 43,298, dated IuneZB,

1b all it may concern.- i

Beit known that I, JOHN ERrossoN, of the city, county, and Stateof N ew York, have in. vented certain new and useful Improvements:

in Gun--Carriages; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,- and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same,

. reference being had to the accompanying forming a part of this specification,

drawings, in whichy Y Figure 1 is a side elevation of a naval gun'- carri e with my improvements.V Fig. 2 is a plan o the same. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section of the same in the plane indicated by the line a.' w in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transv verse vertical section of the same in the plane indicated by the line y y in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a transverse verticalsection of the lower part of the same in the plane indicated by the line `a in Fig. 1. Figs 6l and 7 are detail views,

which will be'hereinafter explained.

ySimilar letters of reference indicate like parts. 4, l.

The object of this invention is'to` enable a heavy gun to lbe worked by few handsand to re-duce the recoil in such a degree as to pei`-` mit the gun to be worked in a turret or within a limited space. e

It consists, first, in providing for the running of a gun-carriage out for firing, or run-A ning 1t in or out for any other purpose, by

securing one pair Of its trucks firmly upon an axle, which is free to turn'in suitable boxes or bearings in the sides or'brackets of the carriage,and combining the said shaft with a system of toothed gear-wheels attached to the carriage for the purposel of applying power to it for turning the trucks, and thereby moving' the carriage. e

' It consists, second, in producing the friction necessary to check the recoil of a gun-carriage, or holding it firmly in place in a Seaway, or under other circumstances, by means of a system of parallel plates arranged lengthwise of and attached to the carriage, and a system of v interposed parallel timbers attached to the bed -or platform upon which the carriage works, whereby I am enabled to produce an almost unlimited amount of friction with a small application of force.' Y U ltconsists, third, in a novcl'device, whleh I i term a compressor, for compressing the said plates and timbers together for the purpose of tween them.

It consists, fourth, in the construction of a gunfcarriage in the form of a box-'that is to say, with 'a bottom whereby the sides or brackets are braced together along the whole or 'greater portion of their length, and convenience is affordedv for attaching the 'parallel plates .hereinbefore mentioned to the carriage.

A A are the' rails,on which th'ecarriage -runs; and' B B the transoms; on whichv the said rails rest.'

G C arethesides or brackets of the gun-car riage; D D, the -transorns, and E the bottom.

F F are theitrucks. The rear. trucks, F, may be applied in the usual lnanner, but the front ones, F', are both secured irmly upon an axle,- G; which works in bearings in the bracketsjo'f; the carriage,fas'shown in Fig. 3. On thisaxle there is also secured a. cog-wheel, H,' which gears with a pinion, I, on a short shaft, J, which'works ina bearing in one tof the brackets C. This shaft' is furnishedout- -sidc of thebrack'ct with a hand-crank, J', a 4Wheehor ,other means of applying power to turn the said shaft by hand,and by turning the 'sa-id. shaft the pinion is caused to turn the cogwheel, and the axle G and trucks F', turning "with the latter, cause the carriage to run upon Vth'Qe rails A Aeither forward or backward, aclcording to the direction'in whichthe shaft is turned. By using a. hand crank or wheel of long. radius, a small pinion, and a large cogwheel, the carriage may be moved very easily.

4K K are the parallel plates, which I call L L the interposed timbers, which I call fric- `tion-timbers, attached to the transoms Il B. These plates and timbers constitute the friction apparatus by-Which the recoil of the carriage in firing is checked, and the carriage is held stationary at other times.

carriage it will always be better to make the carriage, like a box, or with a bottom, E, of plate-iron extendingthe whole or greater part of its length'.

The check-plates KK consist of'straight dat pieces of plate-iron of a suitable length and width, having similar lugs, a a, at both ends,

as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 1,to'enter producing the requisite degree of frictionbe-` check-plates, attached to the carriage, and

In applying the friction apparatus to a gunv slots b b,provided for their reception in the b ottom E of the carriage, that thesaid plates may be suspended under the carriage by'me'ans of pins c c inserted horizontally through holes in .the portions ofthe saidlug'swhichprojcct above the upper surface of the bottom E, as shown in Fig'. 5. The slots b bare of a length only sufficient for the free passage of the lugs a a, and therefore no longitudinal movement of the Acheck-plates is permitted; but the said slots are of a width much greater than the thickness of the lugs and plates, to permit a lateral movement of the plates. The frictiontimbers L L, which are interposed between these check-plates, are arranged parallelwith the rails A A, and secured at .their ends, in such a manner as to be prevented from mov'- ing longitudinally, by means of screw-'bolts d d, which screw into the transoms B B. The said timbers should also be fitted to the transoms-B B with ajog to relieve the bolts d d of 'unnecessary strain. The holes e e, provided in the said timbers for the bolts dd, are elongated laterally, as shown in Fig. 2, to permit a lateral movement of the said timbers.

I will now describe the compressor by which the check-plates and friction-timbers are com. pressed together to produce the necessary friction on the said plates to t check the recoil of the carriage.

M M are two levers,placed one on each side of the series of check-plates and friction-bars.-

and workingatvright angles to the length of the carriage on fulcrnm-pins f f, which attach them to a strong supporting-plate, R. bolted to the carriage-bottom E, in which there are provided, openings g g for the' said levers to work through.

Fig. 6 isa top view of the plate R. The said levers are so formed and arranged that their lower ends will bear. against the two outer check-plates of the series. Their upper ends are forked, that of My for the reception of a nut, Nfwhich fits to'- a screw-thread, h,

on a horizontal shaft, l?, which. is arranged.

transversely to the gun-carriage, and that -of `M for the reception of a collar, Q, which is fitted loosely to. the v'said shaft. The said nut and collar are pivoted to the forks of the levers by pivots z ,to permit the movements of the levers while the said nut and collar are Ain line with the shaft, and to afford facilityfor the introduction of the-pivots into their bearings in the forks of .the levers the levers are each made in two pieces, as shown in Fig. 7,' which is a back view of ,the lever M. The shaft P has also a fast collar, k, close to the loose collar Q. The said shaftpasses through one of the brackets G of the carriage, and is furnished outside of the carriage with a handwheel, S, by which to turn it. A guide, j, is provided in the carriage for the said shaft, but the collar Q and nut N are the actual bearings of the shaft, which is free to move lengthwise as well as rise and fall slightly,as required by the movement of the levers.

To compress the several check-plates andemacs friction-bergtogahel-,the haar is turned by Y the wheel S in a direction to cause the movementof the nut N toward the end of the screw h, and increase the distance between the said nut and the collars Q, on the 'shaft k,

and the saidA nut and collars 'are therebycaused to force outward the upper ends of the 'levers M M', and so` make the lower endsof the said Jlevers press Iagainst the two outer 'the reverse direction, and the upper ends of the levers M M thereby drawn toward'or allowed to approach each other till the pressure of their lower ends is entirely. removed from the check-plates, and the said plates and friction-timbersareallleftloose. By substituting for the hand-wheelS a cog-wheel operated Aby a small' pinion, such pinion to be worked by a hand-wheel similar to S, or by a crankhandle, any required'amount of powermay be, given to the shaft P. f

One advantage o'f the friction apparatus hereinabove described is' that by using asuf- -fcient number ofcheck-plates and frictionbars a comparatively unlimited amount of frictioncan be obtained on the carriage with a small application of power to the shaft P, for it will be understood 'that by increasing the number of such plates and bars the friction is increased without requiring a corre-r spending increase of the pressure by which the friction is produced.

I do not confine myself to the use of the precise construction and arrangement of parts herein specified; but

What I claim .as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is

1. Providing for the working of a 'gun-carriage by securing two of its trucks firmly to a revolving axle, and combining the said axle 4withl a system of toothed gearing attached to the carriage, substantially as herein specified.

2. The employment, for producing the fric-'- tion necessary to check the recoil of a guncarriage or hold it securely in any position, of a system of metal plates and asystem of interposed timbers, the one attached to the carriage and the other to the bed or platform upon which it works, substantially as *herein de` scribed.

3; The compressor composedof'two -levers M M,anda screw-shaft, P, with collarsQ k, an a nut, N, applied and operating in combinaf tion with the check-plates K -K and friction' timbers L L. substantially as herein specified.

J. ERICSSON.

lVitnesses:

C. WM. MACCORD, M. M. LIVINGs'roN. 

